#avatar critical

[starlight-bread-blog]

Katara's other canon love interests give her agency, and her pov.

And gets a moment where the two connect over similar losses.

Except Aang.

Kataang is framed entirely from Aang's point of view.

Even when he violates her boundries.

And is unable to handle Katara's grief.

But Zutara?

We get Katara's pov, and give her agency.

He saw her at her very worst, and wasn't at all hostile.

And Katara opened up to Zuko in the most significant way.

#How are they not canon #katara didn't even forgive Zuko while opening up to her #Aang had 3 books #and yet she opens up to Zuko #not her canonical love intetest #oh my god #zutara #zutara meta #anti kataang #aang critical #anti aang #anti anti zutara #kataang critical #the southern raiders #atla critical #anti bryke #bryke critical #avatar critical #pro zutara #pro zuko #zutara analysis #zutara was robbed #zutara forever #zutara evidence #katara of the southern water tribe #katara #zuko #zuko x katara #kataraxzuko #atla katara

[azulas-defense-lawyer]

zuko canonically earned the forgiveness of everyone he ever wronged. one could argue he never learned he wasn't owed forgiveness, he learned that if he worked hard enough to others' standards then he would be forgiven (which is...a mess in itself). but then how come when it comes to azula, people insist that she cannot win everyone's forgiveness? why do people insist she can't befriend all of the gang, mend her friendships with mai and ty lee, etc?

#atla critical #avatar critical #zuko #azula #i didn't realize how flawed the lesson zuko learnt was until i typed it all out #like yes he should work to better himself but he shouldn't have learned that he just needs to work harder and then he'll be forgiven #giving if-work-hard-enough-dad-will-love-me vibes

[whereserpentswalk]

I know some people are going to really hate me for this take, but avatar is not infact the greatest fantasy story ever. It's a great story and interesting world, though a bit generic, and with a really awkward ending (to do anything interesting with the conflict as to weather or not to kill the firelord, they would have had to set it up earlier).

The reason why everyone thinks it's so interesting and unique is simply because of where it was told. It was a high fantasy show airing on a network of silly little cartoons. It was seen as so amazing because of what it was going up agaisnt. If that exact same story had come out as a book at the same time, it would have been considered pretty good but not the best every, likely blending in with things like wheel of time that had similar stories and tones to it.

The way people treat it like the gold standard of writing, and copy it in restrictive ways, or copy its worst elements, is really starting to suck.

#196 #my thougts #worldbuilding #writing #avatar #avatar the last airbender #atla #atla critical #avatar critical

[dragonageconfessions]

CONFESSION:

I glad they did NOT use the DA2 elf design for Inquisition. They looked more like the Na'Vi from the Avatar films than actual elves. Inquisition elves did not look like the elves from Origins and it was a good compromise. I'm sorry  but every time I look at Merrill and the other elves I kept thinking Na'vi.   As someone who is Native American the Avatar films have always made me uncomfortable and I don't like being reminded of them.

#Dragon Age Confessions #Dragon Age 2 #Avatar Critical #Na'vi Critical #DA2 elves Critical #Its the nose

[rosafloera]

I liked it when characters humbled Aang too

Jeong Jeong: Destiny? What would a boy know of destiny? If a fish lives it’s whole life in this river, does he know the river’s destiny? No! Only that it runs on and on, out of his control. He may follow where it flows, but he cannot see the end. He cannot imagine the ocean. Aang: Okay…

I miss Book 1 where characters like Jeong Jeong would put Aang in his place. And Aang would actually have to humble himself and not act like a know-it-all in order to gain wisdom from his elders. Bryke Aang gets to ignore gurus and past lives and he is always right!

-peacockarehot

#atla #avatar #peacockarehot #aang #avatar critical #character assassination #bryke critical #anti bryke

[veronicahex]

Please go watch this video by time capsule, it was a very well made and well thought out video. (Also Time Capsules pronouns are they/them so please be respectful)

#atla critical #avatar critical #pro katara #anti bryke #antikataang #anti kataang #Youtube

[xiv-drake]

Another problem with Avatar is everything involving Quartich.

His relationship with Spider doesn’t mean anything because his connection and empathy for other humans was never in question.

He sympathized with Jake in the first movie because he was a veteran. I don’t care that he cares about his son James, the man committed genocide.

There’s no depth or redemption for that, it’s the equivalent to saying “H*tler was a monster but he loved Germany and it’s people.”

#james cameron’s avatar #avatar critical #avatar the way of water #colonel quaritch

[broitsf-ckingfreezing]

So I watched Avatar for the first time (I know, catch up already, amirite) and...

Hoo boy...

Where do I even start.

Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful movie. It's a set right out of the deepest pits of my imagination; it hits all the positives of fantastical sci-fi with a subtle backdrop of dystopia. The Na'vi serve a beautiful fantasy down-to-earth element while humanity portrays a message of technological takeover. And we must remember that 2009, hell, basically anything pre-2016 or so, didn't often have open political messages, especially a message about white colonization of the indigenous.

But.

And it's a big but(t)

(couldn't help myself sorry)

It's only great up until, like, the last 50 minutes or so? I think you know what I'm talking about. It's a nice story about a people coming together to face the imminent threat. But it's a fucking native vs colonizers story with a goddamn white savior. What did Jake even do to actually earn their respect? Sure, the Eywa chose him and all that, but what the fuck does that even mean? It literally gives "eh, the natives weren't good enough so I blessed this white man instead."

(dropping in a point here to remind you that it isn't just because Jake is a white man, it's that he's a man at all and not a Na'vi native).

It's not a good look for James Cameron.

Wanna become native? Uhhhh.... just dress like them for a couple months, learn about 5 sentences of their language, and have sex basically in front of a shrine to their goddess.

It's...

It's just dang icky.

The story would have been easily a thousand times better had they had Neytiri (AKA the beautiful Zoe Saldana, a black woman and Na'vi native in the film) the true hero and Jake as... basically a kind of collateral damage. Maybe his former marine and informant status could've ended up inspiring her with ideas for war tactics or something. And shit, it would've been such a sick fucking plot twist for the hero of the first half to suddenly become lowkey redundant because he isn't a goddamn native; they have zero reason to trust him. I mean, this asshole literally fucked the fiancé of the future clan leader! And he faces no consequences! It's giving Anakin Skywalker massacring children and being rewarded with marriage.

And it wouldn't make him any less of a main character.

He would still be a hero, just not the hero.

And then, ONLY THEN, once they've won, do they truly accept Jake as clan. As brother.

Imagine it: Jake tries to rally the forces of Pandora and... it doesn't work. Failure is upon them. It all looks hopeless. And then Neytiri, renewed with hope and a heart aching for revenge, steps up. And it's her that delivers the powerful speeches that inspire the clans because she is their sister, not some guy who's only been around for three fucking months.

But hey, what do I know?

#avatar #james cameron avatar #na'vi #film discussion #avatar critical #film essay #watching Avatar 2 next and my hopes are NOT high #colonialism #messages in film #movie review #movie essay #ffs james cameron stick to the cgi #let someone else handle the plot #science fiction #pandora be pretty tho #gonna drop in a sneaky #fuck anakin skywalker #anti anakin skywalker

[mcrmaidlesbian]

The way that Azula and Zuko’s relationship could’ve been explored healthily.

Fuck they still could still have a lot of fights post-canon, but still have that lingering hope of a repaired relationship still in the air.

They could’ve spent a lot of time apart, but it still be implied that they deserve to find healing with one another

#I’m so disappointed #so happy for zuko at the end of the series but both him and his sister deserve a lot of love #atla zuko #atla azula #azula #zuko #avatar zuko #avatar critical #atla critical #anti atla comics #atla #avatar the last airbender #anti iroh #last tag is kinda out of place but it makes sense since he drives them further apart

[littlefankingdom]

My brother made me watch Avatar 2: The Way of Water, so I'm going to make it everyone's problem

Avatar 2 is a good sequel in the sense that it has the same elements as the first one: gorgeous visuals but meh plot with some controversial stuffs in. Maybe you don't remember, but Avatar is this white savior story that came out 13 years ago, and now, because someone needed to make more money (pick whoever you want), we have a sequel and a third movie in the making. For now, we have these 3 hours of the artistic department, which I hope was well treated, busting their ass off to hide the flaws of a movie that could have been 2 hours.

Watch out, spoilers.

This is a movie about fatherhood, but more so about a bad father as Jake Sully was saying the same shit my abusive parents used to, and for a moment I had to ask myself if I was in a theater or back in the house I grew up in. Maybe the original dialogues are different (because I saw the French version), I don't believe so, but this man has four children and yet, doesn't know how to be a parent. No, man that sounds like Thor but it's because you are voiced by the same VA (Adrien Antoine) and not because you are Chris Hemsworth, you don't threaten to beat your children to make them stop joining a battle or not fighting their sister's bully. And the way he talked to his second son is just so awful, even if he brings trouble, that's not a good way to take care of the issue. The whole family dynamic is just wrong because they keep calling him "Chief" ("chef" in French), and he kept using this authority on his children and on his wife, so nobody can discuss his decisions. And it's even more annoying because women are portrayed as more "savage"/emotional and the men are more calm and prone to reason in this movie. Sexism in my 2022 movie? It's more likely than you think. The message being "a father has to protect the family", which is just not correct because, look at your wife my guys, she is also doing the same job. And she isn't saying to your children to befriend their bullies. Another guy is a father, I guess, Miles Quaritch. Him and Spider has a bond for no reason, just because he's a blue clone of his father. But Spider was raised by the Navi and hated his father at the beginning, and yet save the clone at the end because he... cares about him??? Why??? He has no reason to! The guy didn't raise him and have been terrorizing people for the short time he was with him. He threatened to kill so many innocent people in front of Spider, the boy has no reason to care for him at all! Unless it's stockholm syndrome.

Favorite character: Payakan rules, and everyone treats him like shit for wanting to revenge his mother. Y'all are literally doing the same shit for your siblings and children. Everyone else is being so dumb at least once.

This is a movie about racism, I guess. Neytiri refusing to treat Spider like one of them because he's human. Your husband also is, and your children are mixed, wtf? She was even going to kill him just because of who his father is, when they raised him, not the military! The boy must be so traumatized, having his friends' mother threatened to kill him for being related to a human. And the Navi also have racism because, why not? Mocking others for being different, calling them monsters, letting them to die in a dangerous area, and only accept them if they take the blame for you! No bullies are going to be your friends if you take the blame for them trying to kill you, don't be like Lo'ak, that was so dumb.

And finally, this is a movie about war and colonization. The military's goal is to kill Jack Sully because he is the chief of the resistance, so the colonization can continue. When Jack decides to leave with his family to protect them because he knows the military are after him, which is dumb because if they are looking for you, it would be better to put your children in someone else care so they aren't hurt if you are attacked, the military stops caring about the resistance and the colonization because they must kill Jack Sully, for some reason. If he's gone and not the chief of the resistance anymore, do he still matter in the conflict? No! There isn't any logic for the plot to happen! He isn't impacting the colons vs resistance anymore, why are they still focusing on him??? They can kill and destroy everything in the forest while he isn't there, he doesn't care anymore because he has children!

Least favorite character: Jake Sully. You are so bad at everything, white man, so bad. I cut contact with my parents for a reason, stay back.

Expiration date: 2009

~

This is only my opinion, pls to not try to start a debate

#avatar the way of water #avatar spoilers #avatar critical

[starlight-bread-blog]

I know we're all in agreement that Katara deserved better, and SHE DID. But really, everyone involved deserved better.

Mai deserved a redemption that was about her. She deserved to leave the life of nobility, that bore her so much she left with Azula. She deserved to live a lifestyle that suits her, not being with the Fire Lord. She deserved to go through a meaningful arc that was in line with her character and get a happy conclusion that's about her and what she wants out of life.

Aang deserved to actually go through the Want Vs. Need arc that was set up. He deserved to develop a more mature view of Katara (romanticlly or platonicly, take a pick). He deserved to eventually see Katara for who she is and have emotionally intumite moments with her, hear her grief. He deserved better character development.

Zuko deserved to end up with someone who he could easily connect to on an emotional level, someone who'd appreciate his gestures, someone who wasn't a part of the reason why he felt so disconnected from everything in the first half of book 3. (which was deserved, but there's an implication here). Someone who understands him.

#Zutara #zutara forever #zutara was robbed #zukoxkatara #zuko x katara #kataraxzuko #katara x zuko #anti kataang #anti maiko #kataang critical #maiko critical #atla critical #katara deserved better #zuko deserved better #Same goes for Aang and Mai #avatar critical #anti bryke #bryke critical

[tedkaczynskiofficial]

I love Zutara as much as the next girlie, but I think people romanticizing Zuko catching Azula's lightning in the Final Agni Kai are doing Zuko's character a massive disservice. He would have done that for anyone. Not just anyone in the Gaang, anyone.

He did it for the division he ended up getting burned over. He did it for his subordinate that was going to fall to his death after the ship was struck by lightning. He did it for Lee, when he was kidnapped by Gao. He did it for Iroh, when he confronted his dad and tried to break him out of prison. He did it for the whole Gaang at the Western Air Temple. He did it for Sokka, Suki, and Hakoda at the Boiling Rock.

His whole character revolves around saving everyone else first. Hell, he tried to save Zhao of all people! There's no way that would have gone well for Zuko if Zhao had actually taken his hand. He always does what he thinks is right first before considering his own safety.

Zuko always saves other people. Even if, especially if, he can't save himself.

#look i love zutara #but zuko has no conception of personal safety #there are better zutara moments in atla!!!! #like i will absolutely still read fanfic that romanticizes that scene #but it still would have happened if literally anyone else had been standing there #zutara #zutara criticism #i'm going to tag this as #anti zutara #just in case someone doesn't want to see a critique of the ship #i'm not really critiquing the ship #but out of an abundance of caution #uh actual antis if you see this: behave yourselves lol #zuko #avatar the last airbender #atla

[percki]

‘why would zuko do that’ he is sixteen years old. ‘i don’t understand zuko’ are you or have you been sixteen years old. ‘zuko just makes bad decisions’ he is sixteen years old. ‘zuko burned down kyoshi island’ he’s literally sixteen years old. ‘zuko kidnapped a twelve year old and dragged him through the snow for hours’ yeah sure but he was sixteen years old. ‘zuko hired an assassin to capture aang, and said assassin went rogue and attempted to kill everyone’ yeah well he’s not good at critical thinking. he’s sixteen years old

#this post is a joke. i love zuko i would hit him with my car and then cradle his head like a dying baby deer #atla #zuko’s literally just a wet cat sorry. he’s not good at making decisions #this is a criticism of the ‘zuko can do no wrong’ ppl but ALSO a criticism of the ‘zuko is inherently bad and can never change’ ppl #two criticisms for the price of one post hehe #avatar the last airbender #prince zuko #zuko #talk tag

[prince-geo]

literally pleased with almost all of the new atla trailer except as per usual, Zuko's scar, idk why studios are so scared to commit to the intensity of the thing, its supposed to be shocking and obvious and textured and the first thing you see... that's the point, Zuko is supposed to struggle with feeling like it defines and brands him before finally coming to the point in his journey where he defines it.

Hollywood/big studios are known to hesitate or straight up avoid properly and honestly and unapologetically showing people with disfigurements/disabilities/facial differences etc. with the realism they deserve. Which is a shame in general for representation and humanization but ESPECIALLY in this case as its minimization actively harms it's narrative purpose as well

I promise making the scar more intense (shrivel up the ear a bit, make it intrude in his hairline, make his eye in a permanent squint due to nerve damage, for god sake REMOVE THE EYEBROW IT WAS BURNED OFF) will not make Zuko "ugly", (the actor is incapable of looking ugly and also the implication that scars make people too unappealing? yikes) but will actually do the character and his journey justice, not to mention really show Ozai's brutality, another essential narrative tool. Especially when he's bald like hello??? It should be even more stark and intense when he doesn't have hair to distract from it and cover his ear!!!

When transitioning from 2D to live action, of course some visuals are up for interpretation but that usually involved ADDING detail because the constraints of having to stay on modeling frame to frame is gone, not minimizing, removing or airbrushing. Doing Zuko's scar right to me is absolutely essential and I'm disappointed they seem just as as scared to go there as I thought they might. It doesn't have to be gory, if you've ever seen burn victims in real life or in pictures or even cosplayers/artists who are skilled in realistic burn makeup you'd know its possible to balance realism with humanity. It's possible especially with their resources to avoid the "scary Halloween makeup" route while not holding back on the brutality of the original injury.

Budget is definitely not an issue, or "scaring the kids" considering this remake is likely aiming to go a lil darker in tone than the cartoon (which was already super dark with its target audience of nickelodeon 7 year olds so no excuses) Audiences SHOULD be unsettled and upset when they see him but not because he's hard/disturbing to look at but because we are human and do not want to imagine someone doing that to a child.

It's a deliberate choice out of the all too common fear/hesitation to allow someone who is destined to eventually become a protagonist and is meant to be sympathized with to be "too ugly" while this hesitation is very rarely applied to straight up villains (again we come back to media's historic villainization of facial deformity). It's a trend that's always ticked me off in fanart too. The boy's face was melted, for gods sake. Zuko was always portrayed as an attractive boy in the cartoon (fire nation girls fawn over him) even with the intensity of his scar which is something I've always admired! People exist with scars similar to Zuko's in real life, and should not only be permitted to be represented as good guys and/or as attractive when their scars are toned down to be "palatable"

Like I said there's more that I loved than didn't love about the trailer, that can be a whole essay on it's own but I needed to get this very specific vent off my chest because it missed the mark so hard and stands out like a sore thumb in comparison to all the other visuals that hit the nail on the head to me

#atla #zuko #avatar the last airbender #atla live action #ozai #dallas liu #my posts #atla wank #rant #atla critical #prince zuko #netflix #netflix atla

[theotherpacman]

some positives about the atla live action series bc as much as i am a hater it's not good for the soul or the critical thinking skills to only hate things forever

the costumes are phenomenal. I really love all the live action character designs, they look fantastic

a lot of these young characters LOOK really really young, which is important. aang is a kid and they cast a kid and he looks like a kid. azula looks very young - in the cartoon (esp when you're a kid) you don't really think about it but she is a child. it's important that they're kids

the actors are doing a great job and I don't want to hear SHIT against them

suki's mom!!!!! I LOVE suki's mom as the tough-as-nails leader of kyoshi village. a shining example of a GOOD deviation from the original. changes can be good suki's mom is wonderful 10/10 no notes

some of the cgi looks really good!!! the wide shots of omashu look cool as hell and I know some people hate how the bending looks but I think it looks great. it was always gonna be hard to translate to live action but I think the cgi bending looks about as perfect as it could

lesbian oma and shu... so good so important... lesbian oma and shu

the cabbage man. love him

I thought it was cool how kyoshi like possessed him while he was in the avatar state. an interesting take on what the avatar state entails, lots of potential, and kyoshi herself showing up to save her village was a great use of it

jet oh my god jet they did jet really well

LOVE the secret tunnel musicians

azula being a prodigy archer is fantastic. she should

looks like there are actually a lot of things I enjoy about the reboot :)

(update: I don't know what's up with ian ousley's heritage so I'm just removing the thing I said. it's a positivity post anyway)

#my criticisms are deeper and more pervasive though #come back later for our regularly scheduled hatred #atla #atla netflix #atla live action #natla #avatar the last airbender

[azural83]

I need everyone who defends natla's writing to raise their standards because the current entertainment industry takes advantage of your "anti criticism" mindset and gives us mediocre shit like this😭

#you can't defend character assassination by saying 'it's not supposed to be the same' #atla #avatar #avatar the last airbender #the last airbender #atla netflix #netflix atla #avatar netflix #netflix avatar #netflix #atla live action #atla remake #live action avatar #live action atla #atla fandom #natla #natla critical #anti atla live action #anti netflix atla #anti atla netflix